A symposium under the auspices of the Society of General Physiologists is planned for September 4-7, 1986, at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The general topic of the symposium will be: cell calcium and the control of membrane transport. Four broad areas will be covered: (i) regulation of intracellular free calcium including an examination of pathways for calcium influx into cells, mechanisms for efflux, and processes for sequestration or buffering of intracellular calcium: (ii) membrane receptor-mediated changes in intracellular calcium which occur by alteration of the balance among the pathways and processes discussed in section i; (iii) direct modulation by calcium of membrane transport processes including the direct effect of intracellular calcium in inhibiting or activating ionic channels and exchange systems; and (iv) modulation of intracellular processes by calcium including the interaction of calcium with protein kinases, cytoskeletal proteins and calmodulin as well as the role of calcium in the phosphorylations of membrane proteins. In addition, workshops will be held where the methodological aspects of selected techniques will be discussed in depth. 20 speakers have been invited, including 6 from overseas. This symposium will offer a unique opportunity to bring together physiologists, cellular biologists, and biochemists with their various research interests under one roof to allow cross-fertilization and critical comparisons to take place. The lecture program will be held during four morning sessions. The workshops will be held during the afternoons. In addition, afternoons and evenings will be devoted to contributed poster presentations related to the central themes of the symposium. A major keynote address is planned for one of the evenings. The published proceedings from this symposium are expected to make a timely and important contribution to this rapidly growing field.